Dear Meg
by Rose Black
Summary: A hundred years before Deep Secret. A young woman faces down evil that threatens to tear a multiverse apart.


Dear Meg

I've borrowed some things from other authors: the Dungeon Dimensions are from Terry Pratchett, and of course, the rest is from Dear Diana. I don't know why I've called it "Dear Meg," as no-one's called her that yet, but I needed a working title, so maybe it'll come up later.

Margaret Venables was practicing her violin when her mother entered the room, and thoroughly disarranged her life.

"I'm sorry, dear, but your father needs you on Teph," her mother said, with her slight British accent. "He said it's not too urgent, but he'd like your help.

"What about Gregory?" Meg asked, laying her violin in its case.

"Gregory's off in California to deal with some problems the San Andreas fault's been giving the local ley lines. They're all fractured up, and you know how that affects spells. And anyway, he doesn't want Greg; he wants you."

"Did he say what sort of trouble it was?"

"No kind of trouble, Meg. Just a festival, some kind of cultural event. I believe you suggested it to him, dear? And he wants you to help host the feast, as it was your idea." Meg began to protest, though she knew it was a lost cause.

"Mum, there's no reason for me to go. Dad probably expects some trouble, and thinks it'll help start my magic. But _I_ know, and you must guess, that I'm no Magid. He'll have to understand that someday, you know."

"Dear…" said Mrs. Venables, and shook her head. She was dressed in a long, silk kimono, and with her wavy, sable hair let down, she looked like a Roman statue of Diana—whereas her daughter more closely resembled one of the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, with thick, curly, brown hair and a less-than-delicate body. "I've told you; you're simply a late bloomer." She seemed about to say more, but Meg cut her off.

"It really doesn't bother me, Mum. I'd honestly rather be an archaeologist. Well, I suppose I'd better go now. Shall I pack?"

"I'll do it for you. Here." Mrs. Venables sketched a quick design in the air, and abruptly a trunk, which had leant against the wall, jumped to the middle of the room and clothes from the armoire piled in. "Now let's set up a Gateway."

Meg was always glad that she wasn't a Magid when she had to travel by Gate—a Magid could see the unspeakable beings from the Dungeon Dimensions, while someone without magical power (or, "with _unaroused_ power," her parents said) saw only a long, dark corridor. Even though she couldn't _see_ great, tentacled fiends, Meg still had to hurry past them. Luckily, her mother had had her outfitted for several of those Gibson Girl outfits, so she could run without being hampered by crinolines.

They also came in handy on Teph, reflected Meg as she reached the end of the corridor. The little world was fairly rich in magic, compared to the more Naywards worlds—it had to be pretty far Ayewards to support centaurs—but rather poor in more material matters. There were no large buildings there, and almost all of the buildings were huts of some sort. It was helpful to be able to move freely there, as it was mostly overgrown forest.

The magical denizens of Teph were not the sparklingly robed centaurs of Serrania—on the centaur-populated worlds closer to the Koryfonic Empire, life was more primitive: huts, drab brown clothing (if any; usually centaurs left clothing to humans), and warlike ways. The centaurs there lived seemingly peaceably alongside humans, but the "seemingly" was why Lindsay Venables was needed. The humans and centaurs were in a state of almost constant conflict—Mr. Venables kept them in a state of almost constant truce. This was an odd occupation for a Magid from Thule: usually they worked on less warlike worlds; overseeing crops in famines or breeding new types of magical animals were more usual jobs for Thulians.

But Meg's father was one of the most acclaimed Magids of the day, and so his Magid tasks were paid as highly as the mundane jobs most Magids had to take to make ends meet—Mrs. Venables taught viola and cello, Gregory did some mechanical work, and one of his friends was a waiter at a restaurant while he waited for his big break to come on the stage.

At last the journey was over, and Meg stepped out of the World Gate onto Teph.


End file.
